Art therapy: Everyday stresses inspire Montero's vivid imagery

Photo by Torin Halsey/Times Record News
Jorge Montero, an artist who was part of the O’Donnell Visiting Artist Program at Midwestern State University, talks about a series of works called “Visual Catharsis.” His illustrations are being featured in conjunction with graphic designer Jennifer Yucus in a show titled “Sparks,” running through April 19.

Photo by Torin Halsey/Times Record News
Venezuelan artist Jorge Montero will show a variety of illustrations he creates with ink and a liquid often used in ceramics. He teaches at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

When: Through April 19. Gallery hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 2-4 p.m. on weekdays while classes are in session.

Admission: Free

Information: finearts.mwsu.edu/art/gallery

Jorge Montero doodles at meetings.

He doodles after a stressful day.

Jorge Montero doodles — a lot.

But these scribbles and idle drawings are much more than stick figures or smiley faces.

They're spectacular illustrations that are expressive live wires of movement that are passionate and dripping with emotional fervor, much like Montero himself, a Venezuelan illustrator whose accent, it seems, has not wanted much since moving to the States, where he teaches at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia.

It is at Midwestern State University's Juanita Harvey Art Gallery in the Fain Fine Arts Center where some of his energetic, expressive illustrations are on display.

They seem to electrify the whole place, such as his drawing, "Anxiety," of a haggard, absolutely spent workaday man in suit and tie staring like a zombie into the expanse in front of him. His wide eyes are sunken in and surrounded by black rings. The lines and shadows on his face, and his taut lips, hint of a stressful day at work.

The drawing is from a series of work he calls "Visual Catharsis."

"In my former university, I was the director of the school, and it was really hard — a lot of pressure everywhere, a lot of problems ... Instead of getting mad or drinking or whatever, I produced a lot of drawings," said the upbeat, vivacious Montero with a laugh as he spoke, his hands moving and as expressive as his drawings.

For Montero, drawing was an emotional release, and many of his works in his exhibit at MSU, called "Sparks: Jorge Montero + Jennifer Yucus," reflect his love of drawing and how they are therapeutic for him. They are not necessarily the kind of happy art Montero realizes people want to live with in their homes.

Montero remembers trying to choose some of his illustrations for a past exhibit, that much like "Anxiety," represent those darker, more haggard emotions.

"My wife said, ‘You'll never sell any of this' and ‘No, no, no, that one is ugly. Don't take that one.'"

Montero said he rolled up the illustration and was about to throw it in the trash when, at the last minute, he decided to take it with him to hang in the exhibit.

"That's the only one I sold," he said with a smile. "That was the only time ever my wife was not right. She's always right."

Montero's illustrations are not just about anxiety-filled workers, but they are humorous, too. They echo the long tradition of political cartoons, and so his works are overly exaggerated.

It's no wonder, considering he has worked as a political cartoonist for newspapers. He used to have his own comic strip, in fact, and these days still freelances for corporate clients and publications in addition to teaching (he taught for a decade in Venezuela before his stint at the Savannah College of Art and Design. So politics is a big part of his life.

In early March, when he was at MSU as an O'Donnell Visiting Artist, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez died, which undoubtedly will be fodder for future illustrations by the artist. You could just see the wheels turning in his head.

"Politics was part of my life," he said, particularly in countries like his home country of Venezuela.

While in America, citizens do feel the repercussions of the decisions their politicians make, those repercussions aren't felt, perhaps, right away.

" ... in those countries (like Venezuela)," he said. "It's more direct, so the impact is pchew!!! Right away,"

A group of illustrations in his MSU exhibit captures what is supposed to be a group of ministers.

"I feel this is a sort-of Czech Republic kind of style," he said of the grouping, which he humorously calls "Monisters" (instead of ministers) and "Burrocrita" (instead of bureaucrat, "burro" in Spanish meaning "donkey").

Besides these works, Montero's exhibit includes a series of drawings, often with political undertones, in which he plays with the negative space.

What Montero spoke about to students at MSU was the process he uses in his illustrations.

Many of the works are a combination of drawing and painting. He uses ink, charcoal and acrylics in his illustrations, along with a liquid that is used in ceramics. It is a process he discovered by "happy accident," and the process gives his drawings a distinctive texture. Along with the way he layers line upon line in his work, he also makes his illustrations pop, almost in three-dimension.

While much of Montero's work centers around politics, it also is about the worker. In fact, many of his best drawings have come out of the doodles he creates while at meetings, and his illustrations are full of suit-and-tie workers.

"Some of these drawings are from meetings, when they think you are taking notes," Montero said.

They're doodles, but doodles that are perhaps better than any you might have seen before.

"Sparks: Jorge Montero + Jennifer Yucus" is available for viewing at MSU through April 19.